Delhi Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Registration Of Separate FIR In Connection With JNU Violence In January
A plea preferred by JNU Professor Suchitra Sen under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. who had sustained injuries during the January mob violence in JNU, was dismissed by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Saket, on the ground that the matter was already under investigation by Delhi Police. It was observed by Pawan Singh Rajawat, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Saket that since the...
A plea preferred by JNU Professor Suchitra Sen under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. who had sustained injuries during the January mob violence in JNU, was dismissed by the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Saket, on the ground that the matter was already under investigation by Delhi Police.
It was observed by Pawan Singh Rajawat, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Saket that since the complainant's injuries had resulted during the mob violence in JNU and there already is FIR registered for the said violent attacks, directions need not be passed for registration of another FIR. The basic grievance of the complainant was denial of registration of a separate FIR.
Ld. Counsel for the complainant argued that a criminal conspiracy had been hatched by antisocial elements whereby the teachers and students of the JNU campus were harmed and their property was also damaged. He argued that separate FIR is the norm into separate acts of violence and if conspiracy is furthered into several distinct offences, there also has to be a separate trial.
Delhi Police had filed a Status Report pursuant the direction of the court as per which its Crime Branch was already conducting investigation in connection with the January 5 attack. The Crime Branch stated that the investigation was under progress and all efforts are being made to identify all the attackers/assailants and conclude the investigation in a time-bound manner.
Though the Court did acknowledge that disclosure of commission of any cognisable offence required registration of FIR, it observed that in the present case however, the Complainant had not pointed out any apprehension of non-investigation of her complaint in the already registered FIR i.e. FIR No. 06/2020, especially when her statement u/s 161 CRPC had already been recorded by the investigating agency.
Hence, the court held that injuries suffered by a number of persons including the complainant are forming part of the same transaction i.e. the violence ensued on JNU campus in January, for which FIR has already been registered as it not only has proximity in time and place but also the damage to property and injuries suffered by the complainant and other persons.
The court in the light of the Delhi HC's order pertaining to the sensitive nature of the matter requiring its thorough and expeditious probe directed the DCP (Crime Branch) to file a status report on the investigation in the already registered FIR.
The matter is listed for the purposes of the status report on December 19, 2020.
The plea was filed through Advocates Adit S Puri, Tara Narula and Kirti Awasthi.
The Complainant was represented by Adv. Adit Pujari.